movement research is one of the world's leading laboratories for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. Valuing the individual artist and their creative process and vital role within society, Movement Research is dedicated to the creation and implementation of free and low-cost programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation. Movement Research strives to reflect the cultural, political and economic diversity of its moving community, including artists and audiences alike.

The AoCC will host an intimate gathering, creating space for immigrant performing artists to share personal stories, cuisine, reflections and resources with the community in an effort to form lasting bonds and cultivate relationships to each other and local art organizations.

Artists will engage in a conversation about the struggles of immigration and the effects on the body in the performance practice while tasting tapas and small appetizers from various cuisines.

Food sharing is a universal form of expressing fellowship. "Immigrants for immigrants: taste of home" is an opportunity to create a platform to support each other and grow as a community.

LOCATION UPDATE: This workshop was held at Movement Research, 122 Community Center (150 First Avenue) in the second floor studio. 122 Community Center is a fully ADA compliant facility.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Embedded in each being, each Indigenous constellation of relations, larger system of systems, are organizing principles, rationales shaping their design and interaction.

Articulating an interwoven Indigenous conceptualization of choreography, in which Native movement is embedded in a larger set of relations, human motion within a world of motion, this decolonial dialogue seeks to restore our cosmological context.

This Studies Project took place on February 18, 2018 at 3 pm at Abrons Art Center G05.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

In this Studies Project participants will engage in a conversation around the notion of (talking about) watching.

How do we create the space for feedback in which artists/performers and their work is addressed properly, respectfully, and/or ethically? Can/must this space be crafted collectively? Which ramifications does this have for the role of a moderator?

Additionally, how do existing systems for feedback facilitation (i.e. Critical Response Process, Fieldwork, etc.) break down when interrupted or intervened upon by supremacist ideas of aesthetics and value? Are these systems for facilitation and feedback adequate, inadequate, or beyond repair? What alternatives have been developed? How can we develop further practices of critique in dance and performance that de-center the respondent?

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

In open conversation with attendees, collectives will address: How do we do cultural work? How do we resist institutions? What Asian artist-activist legacies shape our organizing and our histories? What are our communities’ most pressing needs? This event took place on November 29, 2017 as a part of the Fall Festival 2017: invisible material.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Collaborators Pramila Vasudevan and Piotr Szyhalski, invite artists, Salome Asega and Jill Sigman, to participate in a facilitated dialogue about the responsiveness of artistic practice to pressing sociopolitical and ecological concerns of our time. Through artist-led presentations that will detail a range of interdisciplinary strategies, this Studies Project will share how arts practitioners are making political interventions while challenging formal expectations around legibility, site-specificity, and linearity. This event took place on November 7, 2017

IN PARTNERSHIP

Movement Research works in partnership with local, national, and international organizations to create opportunities that spur interaction and exchange among choreographers and movement based artists through residencies, workshop exchanges, informal showings, and discussions.

Pramila Vasudevan’s NYC Residency is made possible by the McKnight Choreographer Fellowship Program, administered by the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts and funded by The McKnight Foundation, in partnership with Gibney Dance Center, The Playground, and Movement Research. Pramila Vasudevan is a 2016 McKnight Choreographer Fellow.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

This is a Movement Research podcast of Studies Project entitled: Stories, Strategies and Practices

Hosted by the Movement Research Artists of Color Council and Organized by Lily Bo Shapiro and Stanley Gambucci With Arthur Aviles, Ebony Noelle Golden, Eli Tamondong and Stephanie Acosta. This event took place on October 10, 2017.

The Movement Research Artists of Color Council gathers together an intergenerational group of dance makers and performers to discuss their artistic practices and the practical realities that go hand in hand with them. Each bring a range of aesthetic and cultural lineages, career trajectories, and studio practices into the room. This conversation will hold each artist's individual experiences and knowledge of the field up as a crucial, shared resource.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Wildcat!, a civically-minded, collaborative performance organization, brings together a panel of performers, artists, and activists to discuss how equitable conflict manifests in contemporary performance practices. How might the role of conflict be reconsidered within collaborative work? What potential lies in negotiating equitable conflict as a means of devising performance? As a means of shifting from militaristic ideas of conflict toward cyclical acts of supportive response?

Nia Love re-configures and re-examines the meanings of ‘safe-space’, domesticity, and self care in an installment of her latest project, the Epic Memory Lab (EMLab). Taking the form of a potluck, Love will facilitate a candid dialogue about healing and aging that will be guided by the recipes, stories, and family heirlooms offered by attendees.

EMLab is informed by the structure of Kitchen Konversations, a series developed by Nia Love and Marjani Forté-Saunders.

This conversation will take a detailed look at the culture around child-rearing as a performer. How do structures and attitudes in the field invite and support or discourage and overlook the choice to be primarily a dancer, rather than a dance-maker? In a dance economy focused on finding support for choreographers, what are the concrete ways performers are finding to navigate parenting and dancing?

Citation and adaptation have been fertile and even groundbreaking creative processes. Cultural appropriations have also masked power dynamics and violent processes of dispossession. How are performance makers navigating citational and appropriative processes with intention and within a range of proximities and intimacies with their sources? How do these artistic practices contend with and complicate colonial and extractive procedures?

March 15, 2017

Movement Research's editors create a temporary "publication": a live site igniting conversation, debate and language around the current moment. Faced with extreme conservatism, how will New York City dance/performance people activate their power, access, resources and social missions? Questions will be posed and answered within a time limit. Categories include: culture in the current political climate; gossip; equity; formulating a new avant-garde in a socially responsible way. GAME SHOW!

Since the development of the Dancers Compact from 1996 to 2002, multiple efforts have been undertaken in the field to better understand, support, and advocate for the needs of dance artists, and for the importance of self-care. This is an essential and ongoing issue for each dance artist and for the field as a whole. What are the approaches and practices that makers and dancers are developing to better sustain themselves and their collaborators, and what resources are out there for dance artists in NYC? Hear from artists Aaron Mattocks, Katy Pyle, Juliana May, and Antonio Ramos, who are each actively pursuing different ways to address these questions – and add your own experiences, ideas, and practices to the mix.

This Studies Project will bring together dance artists who also work in the field of care-giving: end-of-life, beginning-of-life, navigators of illness and wellness. Why do many dancers become doulas? What is the overlap between guiding bodies through the cycles of life, and guiding bodies through space? What is it that draws dance artists to this profession? How do we acknowledge the specific needs of different communities and that all care is not equal/universal?

The artists driving this new Movement Research initiative open their current conversations to a wider audience, sharing thoughts on the Council’s mission and their experiences as artists of color within Movement Research’s programs. In support of accountability efforts underway within Movement Research and working towards two-way transparency, the Council invites the concerns of the community around cultural diversity, equity, and sustainable structural integration into the space.

Movement Research Studies Project, "Back to School with Teaching Artists" - October 11, 2016

Initiated and Hosted by Diana Crum, Director of MR's Dance Makers in the Schools Program.

Using the context of the Movement Research lineage and community as a base to move out from, this roundtable discussion is an opportunity for teaching artists to gather and share their current ideas, inspirations, and practices. We'll kick off the conversation with invited guest speakers Mariangela Lopez, Jules Skloot and Adrienne Westwood.

We discussed and examined the culture around child-rearing in our field - in what ways do structures and attitudes in the field integrate and invite this choice and in what ways do they, often unconsciously, ignore or discourage this reality? How are artists who are also parents perceived? What are some of the concrete decisions and conditions individuals in the field employ to make it work?

Artists with disabilities and artists whose work disrupts normative notions of what constitutes a dancing body will come together in conversation. We will consider the artistic work of the panelists and how it opens up possibilities for dance to move beyond narrow historical paradigms to include a more expansive range of physical experience and formal content.

Panelists will discuss their various perspectives on the integration of puppetry and dance in live performance. Like dance, puppetry is a hands-on, physical art form. What happens when the puppet appears onstage? This conversation will explore how artists are bringing these two forms together in unique ways and how they complement and inform one another.

Women dominate the dance and performance field in numbers, but not in visibility, ‘success,’ or positions of power. Let’s keep the issue at the forefront and explore how to rectify this. One of the biggest untapped resources is women helping and supporting other women more vocally and consciously—as the majority, our collective efforts would have a massive impact on leveling the field. In this panel, we’ll discuss how to effect change and meaningfully support the majority of our fellow practitioners. Any gender expression is welcome and all are encouraged to participate.

Movement Research Studies Project, "An Artist Conversation between Nelisiwe Xaba and David Thomson" - December 1, 2015 Part of Movement Research Festival Fall 2015: vanishing points, curated by Beth Gill and Cori Olinghouse

This event was an informal introduction to choreographer Nelisiwe Xaba who is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a participating artist in the festival. David Thomson led a live interview and discussion with Xaba around the political and aesthetic resonances in her work.

Movement Research Studies Project, "Dancer as Agent" - November 10, 2014 Conceived by Cecilia Roos in partnership with Iréne HultmanPanelists included Hilary Clark and Juliette Mapp

Within the field of dance, the creation process often demands that dancers develop methodologies, movement vocabularies and conceptual frames. Previously seen as the exclusive domain of choreographers, dramaturges and directors, these procedural boundaries are now shifting and eroding creative hierarchies in live performance. This has produced new, mostly undocumented relationships to working processes and bodies of knowledge. The Dancer as Agent began in 2013 as a conference held at University of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in Sweden. This conversation focused on some of the topics that emerged from that conference.

Movement Research Studies Project, "what we talk about when we talk somatics: a sharing of practices leading into conversation" - November 10, 2015With Justine Lynch, Antonio Ramos, Shelley Senter and RoseAnne SpradlinModerated by Levi Gonzalez

What does the term “somatics” even mean? Can we arrive at consensus around this as an idea, a value, a practice? This event brought together artists/practitioners of various backgrounds and areas of study to lead the group in experiential practices which evolved into a collective discussion on the term “somatics” and the impact and resonance of this way of learning and being in the world.

How do the things we watch inform our dance making? What have our (guilty) pleasures, high and low, taught us about form, timing, structure, etc? Does our connection to TV, film and movies keep us attuned to this moment’s mind-image zeitgeist, and conversely, does a lack of attention to these mediums create a gap in relevance of this art form to contemporary culture? Panelists discussed their perspective on these questions followed by a group conversation with everyone present.

What words do we use, arrange, invent, and discover to talk about the particular communicative power of performance work? How does geographic location and environment influence the creation, languaging, and understanding of dance and performance? How do digital/ virtual sites affect the consumption of dance as a living, complex, emotionally dense form? This conversation covered topics concerning locality, environmental and digital influence, and curatorial process.

This was a post-performance discussion as part of Moving Dialogue: a Bucharest/New York Dance Exchange presented by Movement Researcj, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, National Dance Theatre Bucharest, Dance Theatre Workshop and the Gabriella Tudor Foundation. In this open showing Madalina Dan and Vava Stefanescu presented works in progress as a culmination of a residency in the DTW studios. The discussion was moderated by John Jasperse.

Drawing from artistic practices that reveal or subvert the strenuous adversity of social control, this panel aims to address a myriad of perspectives on the embodiment of political resistance.

Artists and scholars will address works and practices that were informed or influenced by the experience of undergoing the restrictions imposed by dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe. By approaching culturally diverse and unrelated geopolitical contexts, the event aims to give visibility to the bodies and interstices of experience that are not immediately seen by the foreign gaze.

iLAND SYMPOSIUM Sensing to Know /Analyzing to Imagine was a talk and walk exploring the dual perspective of the artist-scientist. Visual, aural and kinesthetic modes in science and art were explored by participants who have experience as both scientists and artists. The first hour was dedicated to discussing the participants' understanding of the intersection of these seemingly discrete disciplines and the impact of this dual perspective on their current practices. Following the talk, each participant lead a section of a walk to the Brooklyn waterfront, reading the landscape through their particular lens. Moderator Jennifer Monson drew upon her own work, and the insight of 10 years of iLAB residencies, which have developed novel ways of examining New York City's urban environment.

What is the role of the dance teaching artist in schools? Many artists make a living by teaching grades K-12 in the NYC school system. Is their goal to share their artistic practice, the ideology behind their aesthetic, tools for making art, historical reference points, movement skills, or something else? Experienced voices from different arenas of dance-in-education and others in attendance shared their questions and ideas, reflected on their practice and how the work of teaching artists impacts education and culture in this city.

Hosted by Moriah Evans, Editor-in-chief, The Movement Research Performance Journal

Biba Bell and Will Rawls, co-Editors, Critical Correspondence

As MR's two publications - the Performance Journal (semi-annual print edition) and Critical Correspondence (monthly web edition) - move into their respective 3rd and 2nd decades, the editorial teams hoped to enter into a more robust dialogue with their colleagues in the field.

The event brought together agents of the dance publishing world in New York and members of the interested public. Buoyed by wine and modest vittles, we broke into three working groups focused on three themes: Design, Circulation and Content. Each working group had auxiliary prompts and exercises to guide a hands-on, brains-on practicum leading to a larger, group conversation.

In preparation, the hosts asked that attendees bring a clutch of journals, periodicals, catalogs and/or websites that serve as their primary sources for dance content.

With panelists Allison Joy, Jumatatu R. Poe and Social Health Performance Club

Living in a body that shouts through the underbelly, a protested or protesting body, a black body, a body of the multitudes, a body of color, a body no one believes, a body of rage or exhaustion, a body on the ground outlined in chalk. Our current moment's choreographies and vocabularies - gestures, chants, dances, collective actions - reveal (and disrupt) practices of living. What experiences do we hold in memory and body, and how do we hold them? With reverence? Power? Performers and writers responded with those in attendance.

How is dance labor valued? How has it been valued? How might it be? And how can we affect the value assigned to this labor? These questions were considered across a spectrum of contexts, including individual and institutional, organized and spontaneous, and historical and anecdotal to explore how performance and dance function within our current artistic, economic and labor realities.

Co-Hosted and organized by the Movement Research Artist Advisory Council

Moderated by Laurie Berg, Maura Donohue and Kathy Westwater

The Movement Research Artist Advisory Council (AAC) facilitated a public discussion by sharing excerpts and quotes of meeting minutes to spark conversation and invite the public into its ongoing conversation, including threads related to economics, politics, aesthetics and creativity.

This meeting examined the relationship between dancer and community - academic, geographic, and economic. Speakers and guests discussed economics of class-taking, the limitations and potential of University-Artist relationships, and the value of geographic vs. digital communities.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project: New Models for Presenting Dance in the 21st Century

February 4, 2014 at Gibney Dance Center 890 Broadway with panelists Travis Chamberlain from the New Museum, Brian Rogers from the Chocolate Factory, Sally Silvers from Roulette, and Lucien Zayan from The Invisible Dog.

New Models for Presenting Dance discussed the dynamic shift the landscape of dance presentation in NYC has undergone over the last five years. New spaces for showing work have opened, museums and galleries are regularly programming performance, and several venues that present multiple artistic genres have become specifically interested in presenting dance. This conversation with a sampling of voices from these venues created a layered portrait of the constantly shifting field of dance presentation, while examining its new directions.

December 2, 2014 at Gibney Dance Center 890 Broadway as part of the Movement Research Festival Fall 2014: MATTERING co-curated by Rebecca Brooks and Daria Faïn in conversation with Shelley Senter

FOR WHAT was a discussion led by panelists who enjoy multi-faceted engagement with the cultural field, including healing elements, social justice aspects, performance activations, and various cultural considerations. The discussion was a response to the observation that many artists decide to be of service in some way to the culture and to others and addresses questions such as what are we doing, and what are we doing it for? What does it mean to live/work as an artist at this current time, and how do we position our work in relation to everything else in our lives and our environment? And in what way are our artistic practices necessary to a collective transformation of society?

Studies Project is a series of artist-instigated panel discussions, roundtables, performances and/or other formats that engage issues of aesthetics, philosophy and social politics relevant to the dance and performance community.

The Role of Class was a series of brief and intimate discussions with various teaching artists including Julian Barnett, Michelle Boulé, Wendell Cooper, Jeanine Durning, Barbara Forbes, Zvi Gotheiner, K.J. Holmes, John Jasperse, Joanna Kotze, Nia Love, Juliette Mapp, Cori Olinghouse, Janet Panetta, Shelley Senter, Vicky Shick, RoseAnne Spradlin, Karinne Keithley Syers and Jesse Zarrit. These discussions addressed questions and ideas about dance and movement-based class through their own practices and histories. After the discussions attendants were invited to actively participate in smaller group conversations with the opportunity to share insights and proposals.

Photo: Morning exercises on the roof of Itten College, 1931, from "Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and later" by Johannes Itten

Musicians and dancers have a long and storied relationship with one another, from traditional forms that wed music and dance to narrative storytelling, to orchestral ballets, and on to Cage and Cunningham collaborations. This evening explored the multifaceted ways artists are addressing this relationship today, with a focus on musicians that perform live with dancers and movement-based performance work. Artists discussed and examined their various dynamic approaches to collaboration between and across these fields.

This conversation between professors from a variety of university dance departments addressed the changing relationship between their programs and the field of dance. Panelists discussed the emergence of dance studies and the model of the artist/scholar; issues of access, privilege, and the shifting economic structures of professional dance. Our panelists considered how these conditions affect their students and the way they structure their curricula.

The conversation revolved around the following question: "How do we make, define, and notice 'transgressive' art in a city whose identity, economy and landscape are increasingly manicured, welcoming, mainstream, highly visible and inaccessible?"

This Studies Project discussed how the reality of climate change has brought an increased awareness around the fragility of our environment and a heightened interest in sustainable practices. How do we move beyond sustainability towards resiliency, a term currently in broad use in the social sciences? How do we address the current crisis from its roots, rather than perpetuating unworkable systems? Is change a value or an action? How can our practices within the dance community serve as models for adapting to change? Participants discussed different framings of sustainability from the perspectives of various fields, including social science, economics, and urban ecology in a roundtable conversation which invited the dance community and the larger public to explore concrete ways to create resilient systems in their own communities and beyond.

This Studies Project Discusses the relatively new and evolving phenomenon of a dramaturg as an active participant in the conceiving and making of movement-based works. Conceived as a two-part event, Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice speakers explored both the ontology and the workings of dance dramaturgy today. This second event brought together dramaturgs, choreographers and dancers to engage in an in-depth conversation on the experience, effect and possible implications of the presence of the dramaturg in the choreographic process.

Part 1 of the Dramaturgy Studies Project took place on May 5th 2013 and is available as a podcast at:

This meeting looked into Movement Research’s existence as a theoretical model of openness and experimentation, and the fact that Movement Research doesn’t dictate but rather creates a space in which to follow one’s own intention or aesthetic. Speakers and guests questioned what shifts have occurred in the role MR plays for us as dance artists and in the culture at large, whether there is a tension between the individuality and the collectivity that exists in the MR community of practice, thought and doing, and the making/marketing of our identities. As well as the role that the dancer/dance-maker play in an age that valorizes and fetishizes making.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project: “Town Hall Follow-Up: Alternative Economies,” moderated by Kathy Westwater and including panelists, Ilona Bito, Liliana Dirks-Goodman, and Tamara Greenfield. This event took place June 25, 2013 at Josie’s.

In a follow-up discussion to the 2012 Movement Research Town Hall, this conversation looked deeper into structures and alternatives that have manifested within the recent and current dance economy. Moderator Kathy Westwater, panelists and attendees reflected upon different ongoing conversations to glean further insights and understandings on the topics of value, money, time and dance-making.

In partnership with Crossing the Line Festival, and copresented by the Museum for African Art

Friends and artistic collaborators, director and choreographer Faustin Linyekulaand stage directorPeter Sellarscome together on the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street to speak about each other’s work and the power of the arts as an agent for social and political change.

"...careening astronauts and bank clerks glancing at the clock before lunch; actresses cowling at light-ringed mirrors and freight elevator operators grinding a thumbful of grease on a steel handle: student riots; that dark women in bodegas shook their heads last week because in six months prices have risen outlandishly; how coffee tastes after you've held it in your mouth, cold, a whole minute." --Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren

Hurricanes, transit strikes, planned and unplanned explosions, occupations... Bike lanes, bus lanes, protest pens, command centers... Pedestrian zones, redevelopment zones, disaster zones... How is the landscape of our city changing and what are the possibilities for creative response? Looking at the shifting social, economic, and literal topography of our city through the frame of transformative events and policy decisions, we ask the question: what is the role of artists, activists, and all citizens in conceiving, creating, and defending (a notion of) public space? And conversely, what is the role of public space as a partner in creative expression and action? luciana achugar, Randy Martin, Jenny Romaine, and Niegel Smith reflect on our shifting urban landscape and offer opportunities to imagine how we might enact our city in the future.

Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in PracticeConceived by Amanda Loulaki and Susan Mar Landau

Center for Performance Research, May 5, 2013.

A roundtable discussion with Thomas F. DeFrantz, Susan Mar Landau, André Lepecki and Katherine Profeta. The dramaturg as an active participant in the conceiving and making of movement based works is a relatively new and evolving phenomenon, as well as one that can be both mysterious and suspect. Conceived as a two-part event, Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice will explore both the ontology and the workings of dance dramaturgy today. Precluded by a short history of the topic, the first event will bring together a diverse group of working dramaturges to discuss their experiences and the possible implications of their role in the choreographic process. The second event, to take place in the fall, will open the conversation to include choreographers in an in depth discussion on the practice of dramaturgy.

Improvisation as a practice, and particularly the rich history of CI, has spread throughout the world in various permutations and with multiple offshoots, evolutions, hybrids, specializations, etc. With improvisation in some form or another as a now ubiquitous presence in much of contemporary dance, how are people grappling with the various practices of improvisation in the context of contemporary performance? How do we situate our dancing in the larger world? Is it performance? Practice? Who is it for and how does it serve and/or inspire us and others? What tools and materials are we using — and toward what ends?

Curators on Process and the Matter of Inclusion. To feel a part of something. Communal, to have community. To be asked, invited in, to ask to be invited in. Access, entry. While the role of curator and the process of curation holds as much artistry as the making of dance and performance, we hone in on an equally important need for a touch of transparency surrounding the presentation of dance and the body. What issues and concerns arise inside of a shifting community where representation is crucial for belonging and sustainable support? What are we doing to reach out to more artists? Where are those artists? Who are those artists? What are the complexities that arise while supporting the sustainability of an artist? What responsibility do we have to an idea of cultivating and supporting "newness?” Where is the body inside all of this? How do we digest being on the inside or outside of something spiritually, aesthetically, emotionally and academically?

Movement Research in Residence at the New Museum: Final Presentations for Rethinking the Imprint of Judson Dance Theater 50 Years Later.

December 16, 2012 at the New Museum.

On September 16, Movement Research (MR) solicited questions from the greater MR community with regards to the imprint that Judson Dance Theater (1962--64) continues to make on contemporary performance. Four questions were selected by attendees as focus topics for further investigation by artists nominated to lead a series of week-long performance laboratories and open rehearsals at the New Museum. Tonight, those artists share the results of their investigations for further consideration in an evening filled with performance, experimentation, and lively debate.

This is a recording from the third annual Movement Research Town Hall Meeting, hosted by the Movement Research Artist Advisory Council.

This year, living in the worst economic environment of most of our lifetimes, we ask ourselves: How does the current climate affect our lives and artistic work, and vice versa? What creative insights and understandings, structures and alternatives, have manifest during this time of financial challenge? We gathered to share and articulate our perspectives and personal experiences through the recession and saw that they can have material, theoretical and practical repercussions within our community and beyond.

Proposals for Rethinking the Imprint of Judson Dance Theater Fifty Years Later

September 16, 2012, at the New Museum

This event was moderated by Carla Peterson

Prior to tonight's program, Movement Research (MR) solicited questions from the greater MR community regardign the imprint that Judson Dance Theater (1962-1964) continues to make on contemporary performance. These questions were shared with the audience, debated, discusssed, and voted upon. Ultimately, four questions were selected by attendees as focus topics for further investigation by artists nominated to lead a series of week-long performance laboratories and open rehearsals at the New Museum. This event was presented as part of "Movement Research in Residence at the New Museum: Rethinking the Imprint of Judson Dance Theater Fifty Years Later."

Through a series of discussions, presentations, artist residencies, and town hall meetings, Movement Research reconsiders the legacy, mythology, and permutations of influence that continue to echo from the occasion of Judson Dance Theater (1962-64).

The divergences between the work of Yvonne Rainer and Aileen Passloff highlight the vastness of the imprint of Judson Dance Theater (1962-64; JDT) while dismantling the myth of a singular Judson aesthetic. Rainer, along with dance artists Steve Paxton, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, David Gordon, and others, broke with the conventions of modern dance by exploring task dances and the Dadaist idea of radical juxtaposition. Passloff, along with Jimmy Waring, Fred Herko, Arlene Rothlein, and others, reveled in the full-out dancing and whimsy of modern dance. In this talk, moderated by Wendy Perron, Rainer and Passloff consider the legacy of Judson Dance Theater from the perspectives of their divergent practices.

Some questions that Rainer and Passloff addressed: What were you saying "No" to, and what were you saying "Yes" to? In what ways did the '60s affect Judson Dance Theater? How did others in the JDT collective influence your work? What artistic values do you feel JDT has handed down to later generations?

This event took place on October 28, 2012 as part of New Museum’s RE:NEW RE:PLAY residency series, co-presented with Movement Research. The RE:NEW RE:PLAY residency series is curated by Travis Chamberlain, Public Programs Coordinator at the New Museum.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project titled “Dance and the Occupy Movement,” organized by Abigail Levine. Panelists included Barbara Browning, Paloma McGregor, Clarinda MacLow, Edisa Weeks, and Daniel Lang-Levitsky. This event took place at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, January 25, 2012.

An excerpt from the Movement Research Festival Spring Brochure 2011 reads: “Exploring an expanded notion of choreography and how it is related to our social and political organization and discovery of ourselves as individuals working within a temporary collective… circling and questioning around ideas of a moving community.”

The New York City General Assembly Declaration of the Occupation reads, “Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.”

Participants in this Movement Research Studies Project on the topic of dance and Occupy Wall Street discussed several questions in an open conversation about the creative political movement. What are the points of contact between experimental, contemporary dance and the Occupy Movement? As spatial and embodied practice? As social investigation and organization? As improvisation and movement? As agents of change? How do and might these moving communities interact? How do we approach (public and private) space in New York City?

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

This is a movement research studies project titled “Curatorial approaches to presenting Time-Based Art,” Moderated by Sam Miller (Founder, ICPP and President, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council). Panelists included Doryun Chong (Faculty, ICPP and Curator, MoMA) Judy Hussie-Taylor (Faculty, ICPP and Executive Director, Danspace Project), Jaamil Kosoko (Student, ICPP and Artist based in Philadelphia), and Ben Pryor (Student, ICPP and Curator/Producer based in New York). This event took place at Gibney Dance Center, January 18, 2012.

Faculty and students from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (or the ICPP) at Wesleyan University engaged in a discussion about curatorial approaches to presenting time-based art. Founded in 2010, the ICPP brings together artists, curators, scholars, presenters and cultural leaders for an intensive, nine-month, low-residency academic program with instructors from Wesleyan, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Danspace Project, and the Walker Art Center.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

For more information about the ICPP program and how to apply, please visit www.wesleyan.edu/icpp.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project titled “When the Creation Changes its Creator,” moderated by Sondra Loring and KJ Holmes. Panelists included Julie Carr, Danielle Goldman, Julyen Hamilton, Miguel Gutierrez, and Jodi Melnick. This event took place at Jimmy’s No. 43, November 30, 2011.

5 talkers tackled the ticklish subject of terpsicorian investigation. Is there room for passion and discipline? What part does courage and patience play in the connection between an artist and their work?

This event was produced as part of the Movement Research Festival Fall 2011: DEVOTION/RIGOR/SUSTAINABILITY, curated by Sondra Loring and KJ Holmes.

About the Movement Research Festival The Movement Research Festival finds its roots in the Improvisation Festival/New York (IF/NY), initiated in 1992 by Sondra Loring (a MR Artist-in-Residence at the time) and Julie Carr. For five years (1999-2003),Movement Research hosted the IF/NY as one of its programs, under the curation of Programming Director Amanda Loulaki. In 2004, Movement Research created an artist-curator format and beginning in 2006, Movement Research established the festival as a twice-annual event. The fall festival is shaped by Movement Research’s programming staff in collaboration with Festival Curators, who bring their own interests and ideas to specific festival events. The spring festival is produced by a group of artist-curators who determine the emphasis, shape, and programming. Together, these two approaches allow for a varied investigation and exploration into current artistic concerns and reflect Movement Research’s mission of valuing artists, their creative process and their vital role within society.

This is the Movement Research Town Hall Meeting, moderated by Kyle deCamp with panelists Michelle Boule, Matthew Rogers, and Becky Serrell Cyr. This event took place at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, November 15, 2011.

The 2010 Revival of the Movement Research Town Hall meeting dove into the nature and manner of movement research being conducted by our present-day artists community. Movement Research and its Artist Advisory Council led a follow-up discussion regarding sustainability as it relates to research, career, value, and time.

Anna and Rebecca led a discussion on the topic of parenting and its influence on one's creative life. They posed the questions: How can the journey of parenthood inspire and be additive to an artist's lifestyle? Are there parenting challenges specific to the dance community? Is there anything we can do as a community to better support one another? Tips were shared on how to find balance between our professional and private lives. Participants included new and veteran parents as well as those contemplating parenthood , and those simply interested in this topic.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

After this discussion, Anna and Rebecca started a google group intended to support dance parents called “Dance Artist Parent,” and would like to invite interested individuals to join. You can find them by searching google groups for “dance artist parent” or by e-mailing dance-artist-parent@googlegroups.com.

Choreographers, philosophers and performers engaged in a conversation on the nature of consciousness and how dance as an artistic practice acts as experiential research into this fundamentally human yet indeterminate and far-ranging territory. In addition to gathering different perspectives on the subject, some questions will be considered: How does dance affect current philosophical thinking on consciousness? How do choreographers and performers engage with theory on the subject? How have personal experiences and artistic practices contributed to private and collective understanding and development of consciousness? How can these experiences enter into broader discourse on the subject? Participants in this conversation included philosopher and author Alva Noë, dance performer Michelle Boulé, choreographer Daria Fain, and others.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Special thanks to the Gina Gibney Dance Center for the donation of the space for this discussion.

Participants in this informal discussion first watched a piece created by a group of international artists during a twenty-four hour creative residency hosted by the Not Festival. Using this piece made by Rudi Cole, My Lindblad, Kasumi Hinouch and Gwendolyn Nieuwenhuize as a starting point, participants then discussed the importance of social media for the transformation of Criticism, in particular how the internet has shifted the cultural authority of traditional critical opinion.

This event was part of the Not Festival: On horns, hair, hens, haze, and other (Orgi)anics things, organized by Luis Lara Malvecías. The participants in this Not Festival Studies Project events included artists from different cultural backgrounds who live and work in New York as well as guest artists from abroad.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances, and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

In an informal discussion led by Luis Lara Malvecías, participants discussed the artistic underground movement today. Does it exist? What is it? How does it relate to the social and political changes occurring in the world today?

This event was part of the Not Festival: On horns, hair, hens, haze, and other (Orgi)anics things, organized by Luis Lara Malvecías. The participants in the Not Festival Studies Project included artists from different cultural backgrounds who live and work in New York as well as guest artists from abroad.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project titled ICPP: Looking to New Models at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. May 3, 2011.

An excerpt from the mission statement for the Institute for Curatorial Practices in Performance states, “As we work to understand how performance can function within multiple landscapes, we must look to new models for understanding contemporary performance practice.” ICPP Director Sam Miller and panelists Ralph Lemon, Judy Hussie-Taylor, and Lydia Bell engaged in an informal discussion regarding how the (ICCP), on the brink of its inaugural session, planned to address the needs and desires of constantly evolving communities of artists.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Movement Research Studies Project: MRX at the Judson Church. March 28, 2011.

Movement Research at the Judson Church presented a post-performance discussion titled Movement Research Exchange, moderated by Deborah Jowitt. The discussion featured the following MRX artists: Ohio State University MFA candidate Maree ReMalia, Dance Ireland artist Philip Connaughton, and NYC-based artists Jon Kinzel (2009 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence) and Katy Pyle.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

How does power shift when dancers commission works from choreographers? This discussion focused on the reasons for and ramifications of this kind of commissioning process, with a special focus on artistic concerns. Panelists include Jean Butler, Tere O’Connor, Marya Wethers, Daria Faïn, Sonja Kostich and Brandi Norton of OtherShore.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provacative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersections of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Shared experience and a sense of common space are revered by many to be indispensable tenets in the performing arts. Theatrical constructs have been created anew in the digital era. This is a group of artists that together spans the continuum from deep in the pre-digital to a future in the post digital. The moment they share now is somewhere in between. These ideas will serve as departure points, ultimately leading to an artist-generated discussion.

Dance on Camera was a shorts program curated by Movement Research 2010 Artists-in-Residence Anna Azrieli, Laurie Berg, Yve Laris Cohen and Chase Granoff, in collaboration with Dance Films Association Director Deirdre Towers. This event is a part of DFA’s 39th Annual Dance on Camera Festival.

The evening's viewing and discussion grew from an initial grouping of three short films selected from submissions to DFA’s 2011 Dance On Camera Festival. Each film centered around movement in relationship to landscapes, ranging from the natural world to the urban environment. The second part of the evening featured films and videos selected by the curators, responding to issues brought up by themes in the original films, as well as the event's curatorial process.

Samuael Topiary moderated a discussion that engaged all of the films and discourses surrounding the event.

Panelists include Yve Laris Cohen ,Peggy Gould , Jennifer Miller , George Emilio Sanchez and Christopher Williams.This is an excerpt of the panel.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Excerpts and documentation of Making Men, a series of videos and installations presented by Susan Mar Landau as part of the Movement Research Studies Project: Symposium on Masculinity and Embodied PracticeModerated by Ben SpatzJuly 29, 2010Medicine Show Theatre

The symposium included several paper presentations, speakers, and performances. Excerpts and documentation of Making Men, a series of videos and installations was presented by Susan Mar Landau.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

“Repellant Effects of the Masculine Midas Touch: Consequences of the Ideology of Claiming Examined through Patrick Meyers’ K2 and Lee Blessing’s Great Falls.” Presented by Shelby Hibbs as part of the Movement Research Studies Project: Symposium on Masculinity and Embodied PracticeModerated by Ben SpatzJuly 29, 2010Medicine Show Theatre

The symposium included several paper presentations, speakers, and performances. This paper is “Repellant Effects of the Masculine Midas Touch: Consequences of the Ideology of Claiming Examined through Patrick Meyers’ K2 and Lee Blessing’s Great Falls.” and was presented by Shelby Hibbs.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

“Doing and Undoing Masculinity in the Performance of Ella, by Susana Torres Molina.” Presented by Milton Loayza as part of the Movement Research Studies Project: Symposium on Masculinity and Embodied PracticeModerated by Ben SpatzJuly 29, 2010Medicine Show Theatre

The symposium included several paper presentations, speakers, and performances. This paper is “Doing and Undoing Masculinity in the Performance of Ella, by Susana Torres Molina.” and was presented by Milton Loayza.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

“The Bully and the Bitch: Pro Wrestling and Drag as Spectacles for Gendering the Audience.” Presented by John Stoltenberg as part of the Movement Research Studies Project: Symposium on Masculinity and Embodied Practice

Moderated by Ben SpatzJuly 29, 2010Medicine Show Theatre

The symposium included several paper presentations, speakers, and performances. This paper is “The Bully and the Bitch: Pro Wrestling and Drag as Spectacles for Gendering the Audience.” and was presented by John Stoltenberg.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

“Reflexive Association: Keying from Symbol, Archetype, and Faith." Presented by Jef Johnson as part of the Movement Research Studies Project: Symposium on Masculinity and Embodied PracticeModerated by Ben SpatzJuly 29, 2010Medicine Show Theatre

The symposium included several paper presentations, speakers, and performances. This paper is “Reflexive Association: Keying from Symbol, Archetype, and Faith.” and was presented by Jef Johnson.

Studies Project is an artist-curated series of panel discussions, performances and/or other formats that focus on provocative and timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy in the intersection of dance and social politics, confronting and instigated by the dance and performance community.

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary, the Movement Research Performance Journal fosters the exploration and evolution of written and graphic languages that contemplate current issues of dance and performance. We take this opportunity to examine the journal’s history and relevance, how it operates as a vehicle for dynamic exchange, as a form of documentation, and as an extension of artistic practice and output.

Co-Hosted and organized by the Movement Research Artist Advisory Council, Moderated by Jill Sigman

9.21.10, Judson Memorial Church, 8pm

32 years since the founding of Movement Research and the coining of its name, Movement Research invited the whole community to come together to discuss what the concept of ‘movement research’ means to us today. What are we researching? What is the form of that research, what does it require and how is it shared, accessible, or made legible?

We find ourselves now thirty–two years since the founding of Movement Research and the coining of its name; we are entering a new post-Cunningham, post-Pina Bausch era; and we operate in a world where our concepts of information and research are changing rapidly. The umbrella question “what is our research now and (why) is it valuable to us?” seemed a relevant and potent landscape for discussion. We invited three participants to act as catalysts for different lines of discussion and thought: Tere O’Connor, Luciana Achugar, and Daria Fain. The Town Hall was moderated by Jill Sigman.

The discussion led to a number of related topics. Here are some questions that emerged: Is our movement our research, or is it separate from it? Is movement something that leads to research or vice versa? Is knowledge a product or is it somehow embedded in a process? Is there a “saturation point” at which a trail of research is not valuable any more or becomes a style or fetish? What is the connection between research and technique? Is one a tool to produce the other? Is there something necessarily linear about research or can it be non-linear? What is the role of feedback in our research? Is there a cyclical process of getting information and continuing research? Can product not be related to research? (can it come out of ritual, for example?) Are we at a point of letting go of certain entrenched dichotomies (between process and product, research and knowledge, etc)? How much is our concept of research related to scientific research? Does that relation bolster respect for and understanding of dance or does it sabotage it in some way? What are we producing by research? Knowledge or other things? What other things?

This roundtable discussion explores the geography of downtown dance over the past half-century, from the perspective of both the teachers and the students. What was taught, how was it taught, who were the teachers and who took class? Panelists include Hilary Clark, Douglas Dunn, and K.J. Holmes.

We as dancers count on our bodies to be consistent vehicles for our art form, and understand the importance of maintaining optimum balance. How can the study of the Alexander Technique help to support a sustainable dancing career? Individuals with all levels of experience with the work, from the beginning student to the seasoned teacher, are invited to join the discussion, which has been developed by Balance Arts Center in collaboration with Movement Research. Panelists include some of the most distinguished teachers of the work: June Ekman, Jenny Grove, Eva Karzag, Katherine Mitchell, Shelley Senter, and others, and will be moderated by Ann Rodiger.

Panel discussion and public dialogue about new economic notions in performance practice. Moderated by Thomas F. DeFrantz, director of Women’s and Gender Studies at MIT and director of SLIPPAGE, a multi-disciplinary arts collective in residence at MIT. Panelist Randy Martin is Chair of the Department of Art and Public Policy at NYU’s Tisch School; panelist Chris Elam is director and resident choreographer of Misnomer Dance Theater; panelist Jmy Leary is a dancer around town.

Moderated by Barbara BryanPresented by Movement Research in partnership with Dance Theater Workshop

3.3.09, Dance Theater Workshop Studio, 5:30 pm

This evening was initiated by Stephen Petronio as a way to begin a conversation between artists of various generations. There is no agenda, no motive other than the desire to frame a way in which to listen to what artists might say to each other, hopefully on an ongoing basis. Are the issues that interest us as artists related as we travel through our careers? We practice, perform, and tour next to each other, often competing against each other for an ever shrinking pool of resources. We rarely, however, have a chance to speak to each other. This evening is a simple way to have a dialogue with each other and above all to get to know each other face to face. Panelists include Wally Cardona, Ann Liv Yound, Elizabeth Streb, Nora Chipaumire and others.

New
ways of engaging with art and artists have gone mainstream, and the
artists and their audiences are active in online communities that are
democratic, participatory, and user-directed. Is the age of a singular
opinion holding substantial sway over? How does one person's experience
of a work, no matter how informed that person is, compare to the rich
discussion (in words, movement, video, images, music, links, rehearsal,
residencies, showings, and live presentations) that takes place over
the life of a dance? What purpose does dance criticism, in its current
form, retain? And how do we bring about the change that the
institutions resist? Panelists will include Laura Colby, Maura Donohue,
Doug Fox, Marc Kirschner, Jaki Levi, Eric Ost, David Parker, Sarah A.O.
Rosner, Paz Tanjuaquio, Eva Yaa Asantewaa and others.